The Sikh community members here on Tuesday staged a protest at revolutionary Bhagat Singh’s statue and also purified it with milk after the Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi offered floral tribute on the statue in Indore on Monday.
The community is reportedly anguished by senior Congressman Sam Pitroda’s remarks on 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Gandhi who had conducted a roadshow in Indore on Monday had started proceedings by paying floral tributes to the legendary freedom fighter’s statue in Raj Mohalla area.
However, a group of Sikh community members reached the statue on Tuesday morning and purified it with milk and holy water.
They also staged protest on the spot opposing senior Congress leader Sam Pitroda’s remarks on anti-Sikh riots of 1984.
One of the community members,Pritam Singh Luthra, claimed the community thinks Priyanka Gandhi had no right to offer floral tribute to the statue and she disrespected it by doing so. “Our community members had purified the statue with milk and holy water form Amritsar this morning,” Luthra added.
Speaking on the incident, Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi claimed that he personally criticises the statement from Sam Pitroda and said it wasn’t a view of the party. He claimed top party leaders including former PM Manmohan Singh have apologised on the anti-Sikh riots.
Rajneesh Agrawal the BJP spokesperson however claimed Congress president Rahul Gandhi had never apologised for the 1984 riots. His father, Rajiv Gandhi, too had justified the riots saying, ‘when a big tree falls, the earth shakes.” If the sentiments of the Sikhs are hurt, it’s the Congress party which is responsible for it, claimed Agrawal.
Notably, Pitroda few days ago commenting on 1984 riots had claimed, “What happened, happened,”. Later Congress president Rahul Gandhi had slammed Pitroda for his comments and Pitroda had also tendered an apology claiming his comment was twisted by the media.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi too had slammed Congress for ‘Hua So Hua’ (What happened, happened) during election rallies in Madhya Pradesh, claiming the Congress has made it an excuse for every fault of it.
